Xiaomi Becomes Number One Smartphone Brand in India

Canalys estimates that Xiaomi shipped close to 8.2 million units during the quarter under review, while Samsung had shipped just over 7.3 million smartphones to take second place despite growing by 17%.

Separately, market researcher Counterpoint Researchreported that Xiaomi conquered 25 percent of the market in the fourth quarter, while Samsung had just 23 percent. The South Korean smartphone manufacturer said it remains India's No. 1 smartphone company "by a distance", citing figures from market and research firm GfK. "The power struggle between Xiaomi and Samsung will continue well into 2018, as Samsung revamps its low-priced portfolio and fights to take back the aspirational status it once held in minds of Indian consumers".

The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung to become India's largest smartphone seller.

However, Xiaomi has much to cheer with the latest development given that it has shown the most impressive growth rates. The research firms are evaluating various companies' market share in India on the basis of the number of handsets they have shipped into the market - as in the inventory sitting in the shelves. While Xiaomi experienced a huge annual growth of 16 percent in its market share, Samsung suffered a slight decline of 1 percent over the same period in 2016. "We owe our undisputed leadership to the love and trust of millions of our consumers in the country".

Back in November last year, Xiaomi was named the fastest growing smartphone brand in India, with a growth rate of almost 300 percent year-on-year in Q3, 2017.

The success in the Indian smartphone market points to a potential turnaround for Xiaomi, which struggled for the past few years as it searched for new areas of growth. In addition to the fiber internet bundle, the two companies are also in talks to sell Xiaomi's smart TVs and smartphones via Reliance Digital and other Jio retail stores as well.

This is certainly a positive result for the business, not only beating one of the global superpowers of the smartphone world, but beating it in one of the world's most lucrative market. The official statement says that Samsung is still India's number one smartphone company. It is unclear if Xiaomi ended up achieving those goals. The Redmi series has been the star player for the company with smartphones like Redmi Note 4 dominating online sales. For Samsung, the most popular handsets during the period between October and December past year were Samsung J2 2017 and J7 NXT, the marketing firm said. He added that Samsung is the market leader in different price segments in India and is also the country "Most Trusted" brand.

As per Canalys's Rushabh Doshi's report, Xiaomi tops the chart because the company has well understood the demands of Indian consumers and tried to produce the affordable INR 15,000 range which attracted the Indian consumers.

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